Stephen Lesefko spent seven years honing his craft as winemaker for Seattle-based Kerloo Cellars. After starting a wine brand together with his wife, Kelsey von der Burg, the couple decided to “pick up shop and move out to the Olympic Peninsula.”
In the summer of 2024, the couple opened a tasting room along a prime stretch of retail establishments on the quaint Port Townsend waterfront, an historic seaport steeped in Victorian architecture everywhere one looks.
“Inspired by our travels, we take an intuitive and minimal interventionist approach to winemaking, using native yeast, extended lees contact and utilizing stems when applicable,” explains Stephen of his technique. “We feel this lets the terroir and varietal characters of the wine shine through.”
The wines are akin to seeing a classic film noir for the first time—filled with delightful surprises that are part witty dialogue and part tension-filled exchanges on par with the compelling scenes of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, the silver screen’s greatest love story whose relationship was nuanced and complicated. In short, this is a must-visit winery worth exploring.
A little background: When Stephen and Kelsey were newlyweds, they traveled the world together, establishing experiences in the international wine industry. They moved to Waiheke Island, New Zealand, where Kelsey headed up the event management for Goldie Estate, the island’s pioneering vineyard. Stephen attended University of Auckland’s Wine Science program, and devoted his spare time working in the winery’s cellar, vineyard and tasting room.
“We loved our time in New Zealand and view it as our formative years, however, we felt a pull to go back to the Old World,” says Stephen. So they moved to Germany’s Rheingau region where Stephen completed his Master of Science degree at Hochschule Geisenheim University with the highly reputed Vinifera Euromaster program.
“We love working with Riesling and Pinot Noir especially, and lean towards an Old World style with naturally higher acidity, making the wines very food friendly and long lived,” Stephen adds.
Castle & Crown Cellars is a true Northwest gem, sourcing high quality fruit from Washington and Oregon vineyards.
The releases we tasted displayed a delightful purity and sophisticated level of winemaking that far exceeds the norm.
The wines are changed seasonally at the tasting room, located at 926 Water St, Port Townsend, WA. Visit www.castleandcrowncellars.com to learn more about this rising star.
Below are three releases we recently reviewed:
Castle & Crown 2021 Blue Mountain Cabernet Franc
93 pts.
The low intervention lets the purity of fruit shine through magnificently, displaying well-sculpted structure and a long, plush mouthfeel. Blackberry, blueberry and currants align with vanilla bean and pencil shavings to form a concentrated core backed by firm, well-burnished tannins and sustained freshness on the finish. $36
Castle & Crown 2023 Rainmaker Vineyard Carbonic Pinot Noir Rosé
91 pts.
The carbonic maceration technique adds fruitiness and softens the tannins, giving this a rounded, curvaceous feel and lush body that carries juicy flavors of wild strawberry, cherry and watermelon enhanced with an herbal sachet. Lemon citrus and earthen hints linger. $28
Castle & Crown 2022 Red Willow Old Vine Riesling
92 pts.
Crafted from one ton of Riesling handpicked from Red Willow Vineyard’s Les Vignes de Marcoux Block, this shows elegance, complexity and structure in matching proportions. Tropical notes of pineapple and pear are pierced by lemon-infused acidity, with tea leaf and a smidgeon of petrol that adds intrigue on the rounded and viscous mouthfeel. $28